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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

We had a baptism in the La Consulta branch! Judi Vladez was baptized and welcomed into the church. I know this looks like the picture was taken in a dungeon but it was getting ready to be painted. It looks much better now. We have a collapsible baptismal font that seems to get the job done. It is set up behind the chapel and taken down after the ceremony. We are teaching nine investigators at present. Not sure yet how many will continue to progress but it is a wonderful experience giving them the opportunity to learn about the church. Some are very poor but nevertheless deserve all of the blessings the Lord has in store for them if they will follow his teachings.
Maria Condo carries her little one on her back everywhere during the day doing chores, cleaning and cooking that yummy bread in the outdoor oven. When the baby gets hungry mom is right there!
We finally got a chance to take a picture of this unique wash tub made from 1/3 of a tractor tire. It is usually in use when we drive by and we don’t want to cause any awkward moments. It serves as a bathtub for the kids and a laundry tub for washing the clothes. A pretty good idea actually.
We have started the inspections again beginning with San Juan. Hard to believe we have already been here six months! Some interesting things in the missionaries’ pensiones continue to amaze us like a way overdue defrosting of this freezer. We have the inspections down to an efficient routine now. We have developed a scoring system with candy bars as a reward for the cleanest places. The REALLY good ones get a Snickers from Wal-Mart. It actually works as word has gotten around the mission!
While in San Juan we actually found the house with the address of Fred’s great aunt when she lived in San Juan almost 100 years ago! The original house was destroyed along with all of the others in the area by the 1944 earthquake. Unfortunately neither the people living there now nor any of the neighbors know anything of Teresa Garcia or her family.
We had another of our monthly activities with the other missionary couples in the mission. We went to a monument of the Ejercito de los Andes (the Army of the Andes), led by General San Martin, in Mendoza. It is up on a hill overlooking the city. Then we went down to the Plaza Independencia and rode bikes around for a while and ate some yummy ice cream. We met a group of Hari Krishnas chanting their thing as they walked around so we joined with them for a bit mutual fun. They got a kick out of Fred ringing the bell on his bike in time with their chanting and instrumentals.
Here is the sunrise between Tunuyan and Ugarteche one early morning on our way to Mendoza. Love these mountains!